Pretoria – An alleged fraudster, linked to a Gauteng property sale scam involving approximately R1 million was granted R4 000 bail by the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
“It is alleged that Fhatuwani Nicholas Ngodiseni, 37, fraudulently created a duplicate email address to launder money from a Randfontein potential property buyer in October 2017,” said Gauteng provincial spokesperson of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu.
“Further investigation revealed that Ngodiseni allegedly intercepted and re-directed the property buyer to his email address where he provided new banking details of which over R1 000 040 was transferred.”
Mulamu said the investigating team successfully obtained a warrant of arrest for Ngodiseni. He was consequently traced and arrested in Pretoria on Wednesday.
“He appeared on the same day at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court and the matter was stood down to (Thursday) for legal representation. Ngodiseni has been granted a R4 000 bail and the case was postponed to 22 November 2021 for docket disclosure,” Mulamu said.
Last month, the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court remanded in custody an alleged fraudster, 42-year-old Wayne Anthony, who was arrested for allegedly defrauding an insurance company of about R20 million in the form of a client's policy payout.
At the time, Mulamu said: “It is alleged that, in August 2020, Anthony allegedly intercepted the Stanlib insurance company’s system and created a fraudulent email under the Outsurance letterhead applying for a withdrawal of the R20 million on a policy payout.”
As a result, Stanlib allegedly processed the R20 million transaction into a business account belonging to a software company, Panase Projects, based in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
“Through internal forensic investigation, Stanlib discovered that the application was fraudulent and immediately reported the matter to the authorities,” Mulamu said.
“The case was transferred to the Hawks’s serious commercial crime investigation in Joburg for further investigation. The court issued a warrant of arrest for Anthony’s apprehension on the alleged fraud against him.”
The investigating unit subsequently arrested Anthony at the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court where he was attending to unrelated fraud charges against him.
IOL